[41] Lord North at first refused the Exchequer from a distrust of his ability to encounter Mr. George Grenville on financial questions. Lord Barrington was then applied to, and had consented, when Lord North agreed to accept.—(Lord Barrington’s Life, pp. 105–112.) The latter proved perfectly equal to his office, and had he risen no higher would have left a considerable name as a statesman of extensive “knowledge, of a versatile understanding fitted for all sorts of business, and a most accomplished debater.” Unhappily for himself and his country he wanted firmness to resist the solicitations of his Sovereign, and submitted to be the instrument of carrying into effect measures which have stamped his Administration with indelible disgrace.—An interesting account of Lord North is given in Lord Brougham’s Statesmen of the Time of George the Third, vol. i. pp. 1–49, and above all in Lady Charlotte Lindsay’s Letter in the Appendix, pp. 391–7.—E.
[42] The differences between Portugal and Spain were subsequently adjusted by an agreement that each nation should maintain the undisputed enjoyment of the country in its possession on the 28th of May, 1767. The plans of Pombal for the encouragement of the domestic trade of Portugal, such as his establishing the Oporto and other great companies, were necessarily most injurious to the interests of foreigners, and especially of the English, many of whose merchants were utterly ruined. Mr. Lyttelton was employed to obtain redress of these grievances without success.—E.
[43] Sir Thomas Sewell, formerly M.P. for Winchelsea, enjoyed most extensive practice at the Bar, and has left the reputation of a sound and acute judge. His decisions, however, are only known from the reports of them in Ambler’s collection, which unfortunately are very brief. The late Chief Baron Alexander, himself an excellent lawyer, used to mention him with great respect. He died in 1784, leaving an only son, Thomas Bailey Heath Sewell, who settled on an estate which his father had purchased in Surrey, in the neighbourhood of Chertsey, and died without issue in 1808.—E.
[44] See for an account of Lord Shannon, vol. i. p. 1.—E.
[45] Mr. Tisdall never obtained the object of his ambition; probably because the Government would not venture to promote an Irishman to such a post. He represented the University of Dublin for nearly thirty years, was a successful lawyer, and could hardly be termed an unsuccessful politician, for he steered a steady course through the tumults of his day, maintaining amidst occasional fluctuations of popularity great personal influence to the last. It is said of him that his countenance was never gay, his mind never gloomy. He died in 1777.—(Hardy’s Life of Lord Charlemont, vol. i. p 153.)—E.
[46] Far from interfering, as Walpole states, to defeat the intrigues of Tisdall and the Irish Council, Lord Townshend wholly lent himself to them, and nearly prevailed on the Cabinet to raise that ambitious lawyer to the Chancellorship. (Duke of Grafton’s MSS.) He afterwards yielded other points with equal facility, and indeed seldom showed any vigour throughout his Administration, except in his disputes with his colleagues in England. He enjoyed advantages which had been denied to his predecessors; for the English Government were at length beginning to feel “that the time must come when a different plan of government ought to take place in Ireland. Lord Chatham had intended to begin it; and, to enable himself to contend with the powerful connexions there, proposed to establish himself upon the basis of a just popularity, by shortening the duration of Parliament, and granting other measures which the Irish appeared to have most at heart. These views went far beyond the reach of Lord Townshend.” (MS. Letter from Lord Camden to the Duke of Grafton.) Instructions were accordingly given to Lord Townshend in a spirit of great liberality for that day; but he frittered away their effect by the indiscretion with which he executed them. The firmness, consistency, and judgment—the constant exercise of perseverance and self denial, requisite for contending with the factions that stood between the Crown and the people, did not belong to him. If he could only enjoy his ease and his pleasures, and receive the homage usually paid to his station, he was content; the patronage of the Castle continued to be applied to the same unworthy purposes as before, and the interests of the people to be equally neglected. If neither harsh nor oppressive, he held the reins of Government with too careless a hand for its course to be attended with real benefit to the country.—E.
[47] John Hobart, third Earl of Buckinghamshire; he had already been Ambassador in Russia, and in 1777 succeeded Lord Harcourt as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. His Administration partook of the weakness of Lord North’s Government, as was too plainly shown by the embodying of the Irish volunteers, and the concessions made to Irish trade; the latter, however just, being too evidently extorted from the Government to obtain any lasting gratitude. Lord Buckinghamshire was an amiable nobleman of fair intentions and pleasing manners. He died in 1783, without male issue.—E.
[48] John third Duke of Roxburgh, born in 1740, succeeded his father in 1755. He was one of the handsomest men of his day, and not less remarkable for the grace and nobleness of his manners. In early life, during his travels he visited the small court of Mecklenburgh, where he is said to have gained the affections of the Princess Christiana, the Duke’s eldest daughter. Indeed, their marriage was believed to have been prevented only by the application of George the Third for the hand of her younger sister. This belief was strengthened by the Princess and the Duke remaining unmarried through life. Notwithstanding this incident, the Duke became a favourite companion of George the Third. His name is now best known as an eminent collector of books. He died in 1804, and was succeeded by his cousin, Lord Bellenden, on whose death the title was claimed by Sir James Innes, and, after a long process, the House of Lords pronounced him the fifth Duke of Roxburgh in 1812.—(Wood’s Peerage of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 456.)—E.
[49] Mr. Burke’s speech may be found in the Parliamentary History, vol. xvi. p. 386, where it is stated to be the first of his speeches of which a report has been preserved. The opinions he entertained on the dearness of provisions are stated with more force and perspicuity in his celebrated “Thoughts on Scarcity.” (Works, vol, vii. p. 375.) A petition from the City was presented on the first day of the session, in which, after soliciting the continuance of the temporary acts passed in the preceding session, prohibiting the exportation of corn, and allowing its free importation, the petitioners ascribe the high price of meat in a great degree to the recent increase in the breeding of horses, owing partly to the growing practice of employing them instead of oxen in tillage, and partly to the exportations to the Continent; whereby the number of cattle for slaughter was necessarily diminished; secondly, to the unlimited consumption of ewe lambs and cow calves in all seasons of the year, merely to gratify the unreasonable appetites of the rich and luxurious. The consolidation of small farms was also deprecated in the strongest terms.—The Duke of Grafton was opposed to unlimited importation of corn, on the ground that it would encourage smuggling.—(Bedford MSS.)—E.
[50] Dr. Loyd, Dean of Norwich, who had been tutor to Mr. Grenville’s sons.